But That's What It Takes to Be Infinite
by Starry's Light
Summary: After the end of the apocalypse, Rookie stumbles upon the jackal who'd hurt him deeply so many months ago. Weak and exhausted, Infinite is in no condition to fight any longer; and, curious, Rookie sits next to him... (cute Infinite redemption! Based on the events of Sonic Forces.)


**Whoa Starry's back?  
Ahaha... anyways...**

 **Hello! I'm Starry's Light~ I've been writing on here for a stupidly long time, but for some reason I'm only starting my first sonic fanfiction now... hahaha, I have this weird sonic soft spot...**

 **and it's sonic forces based xD I—okay, okay, I am going to guess what you're thinking, SONIC FORCES SUCKS**

 **well  
well not all people feel that way man  
I, uh, I hecking love sonic forces, I don't know why I'm such a scrub for sonic games but I really really am (well except sonic boom cuz no), and I'm not saying I'll expertly deflect any and all criticisms you have for it, but that doesn't mean I don't love it? It's like, even though I truly can't stand shooty games (i'm lookin at you call of duty), I can respect that other people love them. So um... all I ask is that you respect my love for sonic forces? **

**I mean if you decide not to respect it I'll just laugh at your hilarious flamer review later so uh you have been warned xD**

 **this is about the rookie and Infinite cuz help me I love them  
In this story, Rookie went mute after he lost his literal everything due to Infinite... (the horror/shock of it caused him to lose his voice—it's a real thing! It's called Selective Mutism. Essentially it means that due to anxiety/really negative emotions, the person won't... can't... talk. But that doesn't mean they can't ever talk, like some people who struggled with it talked fine with family and close friends, just that it can be really hard to get over that... barrier, between staying silent and speaking) so that's my reason as to why Rookie doesn't really "talk" in-game.  
Also this is a redemption arc so if you were hoping to read a story about me roasting Infinite, sorry buddy this isn't the fanfiction for you**

But That's What It Takes to Be Infinite

Here we were.

It was quiet here, and that's why I liked it. Sometimes it was just too hard to bear all those... smiling faces, after everything. So I liked it, with the trees and the sky and the overbearing silence, the one that's notoriously still yet wonderfully pleasant. Plus it... smelled nicer out here, than the cramped indoors we'd taken to inhabiting.

Yeah, it was safer, but...

Well, it turned out I was not the only one who needed it. As I made my way up the same path, my creamy fur twitching in the sunlight, my calming heart all I could hear, there—against the back of a tree—lay the creature who had taken my life and my voice in one intrepid stroke.

I... paused. I-I mean, it was Infinite. My heart squeezed, tranquility forgotten, the air still against my rippling spine. Like a doof I clenched one of my ears and twirled it around a finger. Like a _doof_.

He noticed me, his single golden eye darting my way like a shooting star. Hah, in the middle of the day. He was like that; Infinite, I mean, the kind of thing you'd least expect. The cold metal of his helmet winked, gleaming at me, but his russet leaning-toward-black fur struggled to hide this... pressure he'd put onto himself. A gloved hand clutched his head, his stupid helmeted head.

Like an utter doof, I waved.

His eye trailed me. "You're... the bunny." His intake got stuck somewhere in my throat. Long, pained, winded, _tired_. So, so tired. "What are _you_... doing out here? All on your own..?" He tried to chuckle, but his velvety murmur had devolved into this awful scrabbling of a tone.

And his voice... cracked.

As he waited, his eye lit. "Oh. You don't speak, do you? I wonder how long that's been for. I remember you screaming when I..." and he drew off, as if it hurt to say it, somehow more than everything else thus far.

His hand fell nearly into his lap, but it missed and knocked against the tree. His bright, golden eye watched me silently. So much as I felt toward him, fear anger loss destruction pain, I... could see something else hiding inside of him. Something akin to...

Ah. I couldn't place it. Not his usual sneer filled his voice, not his usual hunger for revenge sated his cruel tone. Somehow this... this guy almost sounded... like—like Shadow? "I guess you aren't going to say much, uh, kiddo? You should write. Then I could understand you."

Was he toying with me? I couldn't tell, but he just... sounded so tired that I let myself sit beside him. Infinite... flinched, and then scooted back when his tail brushed against my palm. It would've been kind of hilarious, kind of cute if it wasn't the person who had murdered my family. This occurred to me, really _hit_ me, a thud in my chest, and still I sat there like a doof.

I drew a long squiggle in the dirt. Infinite studied it, then stated, "You don't how to write, do you. Can you even read?" To the single shake of my head, he... snorted. "I shouldn't be surprised."

And his voice cracked again.

Turning, forcing my gaze level with his glowing bright eye, I pointed at myself, at the kiddo, and then I tried to point back at him. This probably looked very stupid, but I was doing my best with what I had.

"Oh." He blinked. "Are you implying I'm your age?" And he... stared, long and hard and powerfully, with his shimmering gaze, into my very essence. "You're not wrong. The doctor's, ah... reprogramming allowed distortion of my voice. I'm really not... much older than you.

His eye trailed into the sky. "Two kiddos, sitting with their backs to a tree in the middle of a forest. Not all that far from the camp of a hero, yet somehow galaxies out of his reach."

Sonic? Oh, no, Sonic had left awhile ago. I mean, I had no way of telling Infinite this, but he really had been out for some time. Sonic darted off, doing his Sonic thing, and I thought about doing that too, because fun, but Amy wouldn't let me on account of my entire life having burned down before the apocalypse, and all. So I was sort of staying with them.

I'd always viewed Sonic as... like, my age. But he wasn't. He'd... grown up. All the stories I'd heard passed down of him, the hero, and I'd always depicted him like me. But he _wasn't_.

Ha...

I mean, Amy and Knuckles and Tails and everyone... they were all nice. And—I mean, they were all heroes too.

And here I was sitting with the guy who'd nearly taken all of them away from me. Holy wow.

But his eye was so quiet, and he stood so... still. Shaking, really. Not still at all. Tentatively, glancing my way, he asked, "Why are you still here, rookie?" He took a sharp breath. "You destroyed me, left me to _rot_ my pathetic existence out of this life, and you and all of your little friends escaped unscathed enough to thrive. Rookie... Is that your name? I remember Sonic calling you by it." And he drew off, again, like he couldn't bear to say whatever it was he truly wanted to.

So he said, instead, "I wonder how you did it. I worked... so hard." And it was the way he said it, twisted and bleeding, that I realized he really did no longer want to hurt me.

Sonic told me once that he used to have a lot more friends than now. Some of them he never saw again, but... _some_ of them, they... He said Eggman was usually harmless, that the doctor was actually really bad at hurting Sonic's friends, like he'd accidentally gotten attached to them, but... some of them, sometimes, they...

Sonic's... a lot stronger... than people give him credit for. That's all.

I really did like him. He knew how to talk for me. And... I mean, it's nice having a reason to talk, too, but... it's also nice having someone who can talk for you.

Man...

Sonic and Infinite: the two things that built my life after the latter burnt all I had to nothing.

Between us, then, I heard... rumbling. I started at first, kind of worried the tree was falling or something, when I caught Infinite's trembling gaze and realized...

he was hungry.

Immediately I stood and darted off into the sea of green. Somewhere behind me I could hear Infinite asking, where I'd gone, what was I doing, but his voice soon lay dormant, like he no longer cared. Or he cared too much and it hurt to speak. Or it just... hurt to... speak in general. How much pain was he in and why the heck did I care?

But I did, and I couldn't return to his side until I'd snapped an apple off of a tree. Carefully I nudged it against his hand, and, obedient, he opened up his palm to accept it.

Examined it for a while. His fingers ran down the papery red skin, shivering. I stood back, ready to snag more, but he raised his free hand and muttered, "No, I... doubt I've the appetite for another." But when I made my way to sit down again still he hesitated. And I waited, feeling dubious, when he uttered—in a tone even lower than his last, "Please... leave me be. I don't... nnnh—need you to see... what lies beneath my mask."

My heart clenched. Was he shy, or something? I didn't know and it certainly didn't matter, and in all honesty I was mostly just happy Infinite lacked the energy to kill me on the spot.

Then again I was feeding him. But I...

I really didn't think... he wanted to kill me. At least, not any longer. And well, that's what we were going for, because that was the one part of the forest I really liked and now Infinite was there, and yeah, maybe I enjoyed seeing him.

Heh. Yeah, I did. But just a tiny bit, because he was weird and also a little terrifying.  
But... cute. In a very... soft... and tiny way.

That was the first day.

The second I came scampering back, and look at that, he was still there. His hair—long and silvery-white, weirdly elegant in this way I knew I couldn't pull off—twisted in a breathless wind. He'd had his head resting against the same old tree, his eye searching the horizon for something or another, always searching, when he turned and faced me and I realized he was not wearing his mask. It had rolled, dormant, to his other side. I plopped down next to him like this was a new and natural thing. And I guess it was.

Catching my expression, this tiny... hesitant grin addressed his lip. "I... didn't realize how much the doctor had reprogrammed my brain until I removed his method of conformity." His head drooped, facing the flowers just ahead of us. "He... destroyed many of my memories. In, ah... trying to... control me." He coughed. "I say control, but... really it was more of a wiring that allowed him to... access my head, and thus feed the ability to utilize my illusions through me. Hah...

Why did he look so... sad? "What I remember isn't very much. But it's... bad. I, ah, I suppose I was not raised in a very... loving... home." He paused, breathing weakly. I hadn't realized his voice was so... soft, yet low... and deep, and overpowering. I got caught up listening to him. He was, like... poetic. "I almost feel as if... perhaps if I had been found by Sonic, and not the doctor, I..." Hesitant, always so hesitant, his gaze grazed mine, and then he let it fall once more.

"It is of little matter." Shook his head, even as a wince formed around his mouth. "The doctor found me, and he recruited me, and I was supposed to become as strong as Sonic, Shadow, everything the doctor had lived to finally destroy. But I... ahhhh, I couldn't... Robots, lives, nothing worked against that... hedgehog."

I mean... Sonic's strong. He really... is. He told me, once, it was those people he still had that kept him going, and that was sweet and all...  
For some reason I worried about him. But, well, now I was worrying about Infinite, too.

He shook his head again. It kind of looked painful. "So then came the reprogramming. I, ah... I hate to say I wanted it as badly as the doctor had. Any chance to... take out... the one who had taken everything from me..."

Everything, huh? I suddenly wanted to say something stupid, but my heart lodged in my throat and I ultimately did _not_.

We had fallen into a silence. The world shone upon the edge of my vision, crisp and... blue, so big, and so _blue_. What a nice shade of blue. Not too bright but not all that dark, either. Infinite had drawn quiet, and as he watched his surroundings, his face... softened. I could hardly believe how _gentle_ he looked, the twisted jackal who'd so nearly taken my life and added it to his pile of corps...es.

Holy wow, and here we were, maybe a week after he'd fallen once again.

I thought about it, as I left his spot by the tree, left him to think, left me to think and probably goof off, because admittedly I _was_ a kiddo. I had friends, friends who filled my once-empty days with something more than the loss I thought I'd be forced to confront all on my own. And now I was low-key befriending the guy who'd scarred my life in the first place. Holy _wow_ , what was I doing. Why was I so... happy... in a world where I thought I'd never...

Heh.

Then the third day.

Then the third day, and on the third day I showed up Infinite faced me with a... warmth in his one shining eye. "I figured it out—"

He sputtered. "You... speak?"

"Uh..." It still hurt to. Somewhere deep within me. "Y-Yeah. I mean, um... now. Again." This... trembling filled him, his slim figure, his golden gaze, his tightly-clenched fingers in his lap.

Glancing between me and the sky, as I scooted beside him, he finally asked, "So what did you figure out?"

I breathed, long and slow, before I spoke again. My stomach hurt and everything was sort of terrifying now, except... "Why you did it."

"Why I..." He tore his gaze from mine. "You don't have to... uh, Rookie..." Quickly, forcibly, he twisted my words out of my mouth. "Wh-What _is_ your name? You... have one, don't you? Other than Rookie, I mean. Before Rookie."

I shook my head. Infinite sagged. "Because... you wanted me to end up like you." He couldn't face me, really couldn't now. "You wanted me... to get hurt... like you did." Hid his head behind his folded arms, crouched into his knees. "And end up like you.

"So you'd have someone."

He closed his eyes and fell into a heavy sigh. "I-I just..." Scowled. "N-No, you're right, tha—that's why I let you live..." He drew a hand through his hair, his silvery-white hair. Shining like constellations, like the trembling heat in his gaze. "I-I'm sorry, but I feel no remorse for what I've... done. I-I-I know, I should, I really should, maybe I'm br-broken or something but I don't... feel..."

I leaned against him. He... flinched, but then he didn't pull back either. "What's your real name... Infinite?"

"Oh..." His whispered it like a horrible secret. "I... don't remember it. The doctor, li-like I said, he..."

"Oh, ah, sorry..."

"No, it's..." Infinite swallowed, his voice raspy. But it was... it was stronger than before, a little more velvety, a little more smooth. It felt so much more alive than it ever had been when he wore his mask. "What's... yours, if I may ask?"

I'd thought about this. I'd thought about telling everyone what it was; there it stood, dancing straight in front of my head. But... "I'm... Rookie now. That's me." And I sighed as I released it. But Infinite drew off, his gaze shattered, his—oh he was hurt. I sputtered. "But I...

"I want to be your friend, Infinite."

He whispered it, softly, painfully soft, like it might just all melt away if he spoke it any louder:

"okay..."

His eye hard to the ground, his whole figure... shaking.

"Heh." I broke off. "Maybe that's... no good. I-I know you... did a... lot of bad... to get this far. Almost like you've... won, now." He relaxed as I brought it up.

But then he shuddered, shutting his eye hard. "I've been losing all my life... Rookie."

I think he was about to cry, when something in him—sheer willpower, perseverance, strength of heart—something tiny and powerful within him held it tight, and he instead managed this small... smile.

"Well you're my friend now," I muttered, like I hadn't already said it.

He took a breath and my heart in one sigh. "I'm... happy... to hear it."

 **ahahahaaa this is cheesy as heck and I dont even care**

 **well im satisfied**

 **if you have any questions you can... ask me... about them? XD I mean I don't know if anyone's gonna even read this, I'm more or less just writing this for myself haha  
oh but this thing is so short so it's kind of unclear—I'm not saying INFINITE'S A WEAK BOYO NOW or anything, I mean I got the feeling he was pretty tough, I dunno, it's just that in this like window of time after losing it all again he's realized that all of these ugly feelings in his heart really aren't... getting him anywhere, I guess? So uh there you go haha**


End file.
